The Status of Chestnut Cultivation and Utilization in the Canary Islands

Adv. Hort. Sci., 2011 25(2): 90-98 The status of Chestnut cultivation and utilization in the Canary Islands D. Ríos-Mesa*, S. Pereira-Lorenzo**, A.J.González-Díaz***, J.Z. Hernández-González*, E. González-Díaz****, V. Galán Saúco**** * Centro de Conservación de la Biodiversidad Agrícola de Tenerife (CCBAT), Servicio Técnico de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, Cabildo, Insular de Tenerife. ** Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. *** Servizio de Agricultura, Cabildo Insular de La Palma. **** Instituto Canario de Investigaciones Agrarias (ICIA). Key words: Castanea sativa, food consumption, timber. Abstract: Chestnut was introduced to the Canary Islands at the beginning of the 16th century during the time of the Spanish Conquest. It was utilised by the conquerors as a means of claiming property for communal lands. From that time until today, chestnut has been an important crop in the Canary Islands. It is important both as a source of food and timber and has contributed to the subsistence of the population, particularly at times when both resources were scarce. Nowadays it is mainly cultivated on the Islands of Tenerife (around 1300 ha) and La Palma. On other islands, such as Gran Canaria, La Gomera and El Hierro, semi-wild chestnut forests and small plots where farmers collect fruit still exist. Morphological and molecular marker (SSRs) studies have shown a great variability within the local population of chestnut trees in the Canaries. The main use for chestnut is fruit consumption, but it was also utilised in the past as an exchange commodity to obtain fish and other food. The fruit is consumed in many different ways, mainly toasted or roasted, but also cooked in soups, fish or meat dish- es and even as an ingredient for the typical Canary Islands’ sweet ‘morcillas’ (a type of sausage). The wood of the tree has been used for furniture, with some shoots being utilised for basket making, and also as cattle food. The trunk of the chestnut has also been used to obtain cork or as a bee hive. Recent efforts to add value to chestnut cultivation in the Canary Islands have included the creation of a Chestnut Farmers Association in Tenerife that commercializes their products under a brand name. 1. Historical background Many ancient trees are still alive on La Palma at present. Two are especially important: one located in According to recent studies, chestnut was first intro- Puntallana with circumference of more than 7 m, and duced to the Canary Islands on El Hierro and Gomera another even larger one with a perimeter of 10 m in the and then on Gran Canaria, La Palma and finally the Municipality of Breña Alta. According to the informa- Island of Tenerife, shortly after the process of conquest tion gathered from the local population, both of them and colonization of the islands. In the case of La Palma, seem to be of the denomination known as “Temprano”, it was most likely introduced around 1493 and quick- one of the few varietal denominations identical to those ly expanded and used both for its fruit and wood (Ríos of Spain’s mainland cultivars, which might be a clear Mesa, 2004). In fact, there is evidence that 5 ‘arrobas’ indication of its early introduction. (a measure of weight, 1 arroba = 11.502 kg) of fruits The great relevance of the chestnut tree on La Palma were sent from La Palma to the island of El Hierro in is reflected in the information given by Bandini (1816) 1546 (Hernández-Martín, 1999), which seems to indi- in 1813, indicating that 46% of the total production of cate the presence of numerous chestnut trees to allow chestnuts in the Canary Islands (CI) came from that for surplus production. By 1590 Frutuoso (2004) had island. Information provided by Von Fritsch (2006) on mentioned the existence of chestnuts in the region of exports of chestnut fruits in 1862 from different areas Puntallana, and there are also many other reports about of La Palma also confirms the importance of this crop the presence of chestnut early after the conquest of the for the island. The role of this tree as part of the land- islands (Hernández-Rodríguez, 1983; Browne, 2005). scape of La Palma was also highlighted in school texts used at the end of the 19th century (de Las Casas Pes- tana, 1894). It is also important to mention that the first Received for publication 8 November 2011. Accepted for publication 28 March 2011. reference to grafting of chestnuts on La Palma was 90 made during the last quarter of the 18th century On Gran Canaria: Galdar, Moya, San Mateo, Telde, (Rodríguez-Benítez, 2004). Teror. There are also historical references to the presence On La Palma: Barlovento, Punta Gorda, Punta of chestnut trees on Tenerife as early as 1517 (Pereira- Llana, San Andres y Sauces, Santa Cruz de la Palma. Lorenzo et al., 2007), soon after the Conquest. Many On Lanzarote: Tinajo. historical chestnut trees reported previously still sur- On La Gomera: Vallehermoso. vive on this island, such as the ‘Castaño de Las Siete There are no updated figures on the economic Pernadas’, in the area of Aguamansa (Fig. 1), La Oro- importance of chestnut cultivation at a regional level at tava county (Mendez Pérez, 2002), which may be present. A thorough sampling done by Pereira-Lorenzo around 500 years old. There is an interesting descrip- et al. (2001) indicated that chestnut could be intro- tion of this tree given by Rodríguez (2001) in which he duced in the Archipelago as a crop with a double use indicates that the trunk had a circumference of more (fruit and wood) following the example of the Spanish than 12 m and that the seven branches of its trunk (siete mainland from where it was introduced. This study also pernadas) had been reduced to five by wind action. revealed the presence of isolated, testimonial chestnut According to Ríos-Mesa (2004) it is possible that this trees on the drier eastern islands of Lanzarote and tree was one of the chestnut trees planted by El Ade- Fuerteventura. lantado (name given to the first Governor of the Chestnut fruit is nowadays almost exclusively com- island), D. Alonso Fernández de Lugo, in the Valley of mercialized in a few areas on Tenerife and La Palma. La Orotava in the first decades of the 16th century. Recent efforts were made to increase the value of Many well known visitors and naturalists, among chestnut in the Canary Islands by the creation of a them Mac-Gregor (2005), Verneau (2003), Von Hum- Chestnut Farmers Association on Tenerife to market all boldt (2005), Du Cane (1993), Glass (1982), Von their products through a brand name. They even dif- Fritsch (2006) and Berthelot (2005), mentioned the ferentiate chestnuts harvested in the south one month presence of chestnut forests as part of the natural land- earlier than those in the north due to microclimate dif- scape of Tenerife in their Canary Island trip reports ferences, and which usually obtain the highest prices of during 18th and 19th centuries. the year. Elorrieta (1949) indicated the presence of chestnut on all the western islands of the Canaries but he did not report it as a crop. A recent detailed study carried out in 2006 and 2007 by Hernández et al. (2010) localised chestnut trees in 28 counties on the Island of Tenerife, 23 of them with chestnut orchards. According to this study, the cultivated area of chestnut on Tenerife is 1374 ha, with the biggest cultivated area (280 ha) located in La Orotava County. In addition 2,567 isolated trees were also found on the island of Tenerife. Chest- nut trees on Tenerife are found between 400 and 1,800 m altitude in the southern part of the island (Granadil- la County). Most of the area (647 ha) is located between 400 and 1000 m above sea level, and dimin- ishes progressively after this altitude. Only some isolated chestnut trees can be found below 400 m above sea level in the northern county of La Laguna. Chestnut distribution is different in north and south portions of Tenerife. The higher rainfall and humidity Fig. 1 - Ancient chestnut tree with 7 main branches named castaño del on the north slopes due to trade winds, in contrast with las 7 pernada. a lack of the beneficial influence of them on the south side, explains why chestnut cultivation has been devel- oped at higher altitudes in this latter area than on the 2. Economic importance, cultivated area and geo- north side (Ríos-Mesa, 2004; Hernández et al., 2010). graphical distribution In northern Tenerife the area covered by chestnut totals 1,121.72 ha (81.6% of total) and increases con- Chestnut seems to have been an important crop in stantly from 400 m to 1,000 m above sea level, with a the middle of the 19th century according to the great minimum area between 1,000 and 1,200 m. Chestnut number of localities in the Canary Islands producing orchards are located mainly in the Orotava Valley and chestnuts by 1852 (De Leon y Falcón, 2005). Tacoronte-Acentejo County. Most of the 112 ha culti- On Tenerife: Arafo, Candelaria, La Matanza, La vated in the south are located in the Guimar Valley, Orotava, El Rosario, Santa Ursula. more favoured by trade winds than other southern 91 counties, between 800 and 1,000 m and only 5.6 ha are Cultivation of chestnut on Gran Canaria was impor- cultivated between 600 and 800 m. Another 118 ha are tant years ago but is now only testimonial with isolated located between 1,000 and 1,400 m altitude, most of plots in the counties of Arucas, Firgas, Valleseco and them also in the Guimar Valley, being a merely testi- Teror (Naranjo-Rodríguez and Escobio-García, 2002).

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